Stand.earth applauds H&M for updated climate commitments, including plan to source 100% renewable energy in supply chain

World’s second biggest fast fashion company releases annual sustainability report that builds on climate pledge made last year

NEW YORK — The world’s second biggest fast fashion company, H&M, today released its 2021 sustainability report, announcing updated climate commitments including plans to source 100% renewable energy for its supply chain by 2030, phase out suppliers who have on-site coal boilers, and source 30% recycled materials by 2025. 

International environmental advocacy organization Stand.earth applauded these additional commitments, which build on H&M’s initial climate pledge made in November 2021 that it would reduce supply chain emissions by 56% by 2030.

H&M’s updated climate commitments come less than a year after Stand.earth published its first annual Fossil Free Fashion Scorecard, which gave H&M an overall score of C-, reflecting its inadequate former climate targets and for demonstrating little progress in switching to renewable energy in its manufacturing. Stand.earth research released ahead of COP26 also showed H&M was among the few fashion companies whose emissions increased during 2020, a year that marked one of the most severe global economic recessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In response to H&M’s updated climate commitments, Stand.earth’s Global Climate Campaigns Director Gary Cook issued the following statement:

“H&M’s updated climate commitments put the company on track to become a catalyst for climate leadership worldwide, and has the potential to transform the massively-polluting supply chain of the fashion industry. A public commitment to phase out all on-site coal power and become 100% powered by renewable energy in its supply chain sends a powerful signal to policymakers in countries where H&M’s manufacturing is located to stop the expansion of coal power plants and invest in rapidly scaling renewable energy. 

The fashion industry’s supply chain has been responsible for immense amounts of climate emissions and extreme levels of deadly air pollution in manufacturing countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia, because of its reliance on cheap, dirty coal to power factories, while making billions in profit every year. The next nine years will be pivotal for H&M and other major fashion brands to support a rapid transition from coal to renewables globally.”

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Media contact: media@stand.earth